In the unlikely case that you missed the news from Israel over the past few days, there have been two cases of extreme violence in Israel committed by Israelis (as opposed to the usual multiple cases of Arab violence, of which there were dozens of attacks over Shabbat) which have led to enormous turmoil and self-criticism, as well as the usual finger-pointing, in Israeli society

The Gay Pride Parade Attack

In the first instance, Yishai Schlissel, an Orthodox Jewish man attacked the gay pride parade which took place in Jerusalem on Thursday. He stabbed 6 people, injuring one girl very seriously and another 5 people moderately. See the shocking photo below.

Yishai Schlissel caught on camera as he stabs 6 people at the Jerusalem Gay Pride parade

Schlissel was arrested on the spot and it turns out he has done this before! 10 years ago he stabbed a participant in the gay pride event in Jerusalem and was only released from his long prison sentence 3 weeks ago. This is a “fashla” (screw-up) of the police in a massive way. Schlissel should either have not been released for another 3 weeks, or he should have had an electronic tracker attached to him, or an injunction should have been issued against him keeping him out of Jerusalem for at least a few months.

Contrary to the usual denials or bluster from the Orthodox establishment it is gratifying to note that despite the target of the attack being the gay pride event (which is considered completely treif by most Orthodox Jews) the Rabbinate, including the Chief Rabbis of Israel, all condemned the attack and went to visit the injured victims.

I hope that in future these events will be able to take place peacefully and in safety, and despite the controversy surrounding them, Israel will continue to be a tolerant beacon in this violent corner of the world.

Arson and murder in Duma

A much more serious attack took place during the night following this attack. Unknown infiltrators entered the Palestinian town of Duma and set fire to two houses. One house was empty but the other house contained the Dawabshe family who were asleep at the time. The Dawabshes woke up when the fire started, but despite the efforts of the parents, their baby Ali, only 18 months old, was killed and the parents and other children severely burned.

When the emergency services arrived they found Hebrew graffiti scrawled on the walls of the house saying “Nekama” – “Revenge”, “Yechi Hamelech Hamashiach” – “long live the King Messiah” and a Magen David. Immediate suspicion of course has fallen on Jewish terrorists, and the finger of suspicion has been pointing ever since at “settlers”.

Graffiti of a Magen David and the word “Nekama” – Revenge on the Dawabshe’s house in Duma

This attack is so sickening on so many levels that I barely have words to express what I feel.

The thought that Jews could do such a thing, that Jews could stoop to the level of the lowest of the Palestinian terrorists, that Israelis could think that anything could be gained from burning Palestinian houses, whether they knew they were occupied or not, is beyond comprehension.

The thought that Jews could think that murder is permitted in any context at all staggers me. “Thou shalt not murder” says G-d in the 10 Commandments that we read in shul just yesterday.

I can’t help hoping and praying that the perpetrators are not Jews after all, but the sickening feeling just won’t leave me.

The only compensating thought that abides within me is that even though we have murderers and perverts in our midst, what separates us from our violent neighbours is how we treat them and how we react to them.

Condemnation of the attacks have come from across the Israeli spectrum, from Left to Right, from the Prime Minister on down. You can be sure that when the perpetrators are caught, whether they are Jewish or Muslim, Israeli or Palestinian, settlers or Tel Avivians, they will receive the full force of the law, they will be duly punished, and they will be spat out of decent society. This as opposed to the Palestinians who not only tolerate but glorify their murderers, and name schools, public squares and children’s summer camps after them.

Reactions

In reaction to this latest extreme violence, anti-violence rallies, aka peace rallies, took place on Saturday night.

Some good reading on this subject:

While the perpetrators have not been captured as of this writing, the Israeli government and IDF are calling it an act of “Jewish terrorism.” The word “revenge” was spray painted on the wall in Hebrew. Ali’s father Saad and mother Riham, and 4-year-old brother Ahmad, are in the hospital in very serious condition with life-threatening burns.

The attack was condemned by all facets of Israeli society including the Prime Minister and political leaders, as well as Jewish organizations around the world. There is a lot of soul searching going on.

There is no way it is G-d’s will to have His name desecrated in commission of crimes going against one of His Ten Commandments.

There are no ifs and buts about it. These are deplorable, evil acts and we need to speak out promptly and clearly against them, just like we do against palestinian terrorism.

And yes, I do consider them also to be terrorism, rather than simply “hate crimes.” True, these are not the acts of terror organizations, but rather individuals. However, this is not a prerequisite for terrorism, which can be defined as “the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”

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This is not to say there is an equivalence between the respective societies. For a start, these acts are being roundly condemned by almost all of Israeli society – including (importantly) religious leaders. As Israeli Chief Rabbi Lau said yesterday, “The Torah forbids any act of violence… It is clear to all that this is not the way of the Torah and of Judaism.”

Another difference: our Prime Minister has condemned them. Unequivocally. For instance, this was his reaction to the murder of the palestinian child:

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And not just the Prime Minister. Politicians on all sides of the political spectrum have denounced them. For example:

Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett said the attack was not “a ‘hate crime’ or a ‘price tag’ — it’s murder.

“Terror is terror is terror,” Bennett added. “The torching of the house in Duma and the murder of the baby is a shocking terror attack that is unfathomable.”

Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman condemned the “heinous act,” and urged the security forces to do their utmost to track down the killers.

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Compare the palestinian response to the Har Nof terror attack last year:

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Another thing: these Jewish terrorists will not have any streets named after them.

Every society has sickness and evil within it. The true litmus test of a society is how prevalent & institutionalized it is, and how the society as a whole deals with it.

We’re human too. We have our criminals, our assassins, and even our terrorists. Of course we don’t treat them as heroes. We don’t broadcast incitement on our radio and television stations. Rabbis don’t exhort their congregations every Shabbat to go out and kill Arabs. We don’t hand out sweets when a murder is committed.

Our security forces will surely catch the perpetrators and our society will spit them out. They will be punished, perhaps even more severely than Arab terrorists. Terrorism is terrorism.

Good luck with the UN. I’m sure they will be happy to set up your commission of inquiry, something they’ve never done after any of the hundreds of incidents of murderous Arab terrorism.

Conclusion:

First of all I send my sincere condolences to the Dawabshe family on their terrible loss of their baby son. I also wish the surviving family refuah shlema, a speedy recovery from their horrific injuries. Similarly I send refuah shlema wishes to all the injured victims from the gay pride parade.

Most importantly, we need to confront the extremists and the poison that they spread amongst us. We need to be courageous in standing up to them and withstand the quailing in our heart at the thought of washing our dirty linen in public.

But we also need to stop wallowing in how bad and evil we are, for this can paralyse us and prevent us from taking positive pro-active steps to work towards mending our society. We need to accept that evil exists everywhere, and be thankful that we are not like our neighbours who glorify the evil and reward the murderers.

ANNE – this is perhaps one of your best posts!
Your posts from Germany during your trip there – were also extremely good.

WE are all human beings. And so we carry inside us: the seeds for hope, faith and love, and also the seeds for anger, violence and hatred. We must make a choice – which seeds will we plant in this world? Which things do we nurture, and which things do we reject?

I thought that the peace demonstrations were a sign of real hope. Thy didn’t get much coverage in the global media. Thanks for showing those, and also your own thoughts.

Thank you for the vote of confidence Pete. Your comment is very touching. And it’s reassuring too. When you’re in the eye of the storm like we are here it’s easy to get so caught up in the intensity of the moment that we can’t see the big picture. You’ve managed to help us take a step back and see the entire picture.

I feel sick that our Jewish Israeli society can produce such evil terrorists.
But, &this is a big but, when our govt doesn’t crack down hard enough on Arab terrorists, even to the point that some families have to “petition”the govt. to recognise that their loved ones were killed in terror attacks and not just a robbery gone wrong,or a work accident,or whatever,when people feel unprotected,even that its expected that Arabs are”allowed “to attack Jews,sadly some people may be pushed over the edge &take the law in their own hands.Its time that ALL terror was wiped out.Every terrorist Jew or Arab should get the same punishment.

I do agree. But despite all the provocation and frustration we feel, with justification, nevertheless we must learn to cope with these feelings and NEVER take them out on innocent people, be they Arab or Jew, Israeli or Palestinian or anyone else. Murder is murder and can never be condoned.

Sadly, I believe that it’s only to be expected that some of our population don’t reach the moral level and the wisdom of the majority. We have a few Jewish murderers locked up in prison, and have seen some pretty vile crimes, even within the family. Moreover, in both of the cases you mentioned, there has been a very vexing frustration, that probably inflamed many hearts, even though most of us were able to overcome the evil inclination. These mass rallies do not usually accompany crimes where simple typical citizens have been terribly assaulted, and I can’t help but feel that the protestation is of a political nature.

You make good points Shimon. As you say, and as Reality pointed out as well, there is a great deal of frustration in Israeli society at the lack of success in confronting and solving Palestinian terror against us, and the belittling or dismissing of our fears by the media, especially the fears of those who live in Judea and Samaria, whom the media like to call settlers as if to target them and belittle them.

And yes, I also agree that the rallies themselves are political in nature – after all, you never see such mass rallies when settlers have been targeted, and you don’t see the average secular Israeli Tel Avivian (to cast a huge generalization) protesting Arab terror – and on the other side, you only see politicians attending peace rallies when a controversy has arisen and it seems politically expedient.

I think we all agree that we want our politicians to be less, well, political, and more pro-active in solving our actual problems rather than just paying lip-service to those problems while not doing anything effective.

Just one point. That shlissel murdered the girl in the parade – there is no doubt. But he is not right wing. As far as I understand he doesn’t even recognize the rule of law in Israel. I.e more like a neturei Carter person. With regards to the baby burnt in duma – it has still to be proven that a Jew did it and there are theories going around that in fact it was ‘in house’… But nevertheless the witchunt has started against the right and it feels like being back in 1995.